Theft case: SC wants a panel to monitor daily operations at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple
The apex court directed executive officers to carry out directions given by the administrative committee.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said an administrative committee needs to be set up to monitor the daily operations at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram. The apex court, which was hearing a 2015 case of theft at the temple, also ordered the appointment of three auditors to monitor the finances there. Eight diamonds were reported missing from the temple’s cellars in August that year.
The court also said the administrative committee would have the final say in the temple’s policy matters and that the security arrangements should remain intact. The Supreme Court’s bench also directed executive officers to carry out the administrative committee’s directions.
An FIR was registered in the case in August 2016 and the matter is being investigated by the crime branch. The alleged theft was discovered when the temple treasurer checked the valuables, reported The Hindu. The diamonds were kept in cellars near the sanctum sanctorum.
Gopal Subramanium, the amicus curiae in the case, had submitted a report before the apex court on the status of various infrastructure works of the temple. Subramanium told the bench that the gems were used in daily rituals, and that though the stones were valued at over Rs 21 lakh, they were worth much more owing to their antiquity.